RL is not helping itself though in this country. We know RU is our main threat due mainly nowadays from its indirect from higher echelon society who have all the media power, however we are doing our utmost to lose our opwn power bases. The sport is also in danger of becoming to hard to play with less shocks/close scorelines

The current lack of P&R is alientating everyone outside the top flight, and we'll lose fans in all towns bar those in SL

Also the expansion teams have been disasters, due mainly to poor strategy form those clubs (i.e. moving around, chooing poor locations) and lack of RL support. Quins RL is the worst offender and the RFL needs to step in and get them out of Twatters FFS

RL needs to work its way down the country. In many ways Wrexham is a good move as it is outside the heartlands but by not much so away fans will swell gates

Also I feel that more needs to be done in schools. There are no franchise points for work done in schools. RL is still a stranger in inner city Manchester, Bradford, liverpool etc

I would like RL to provide an alternative stratgey to football/RU and become a game again which is played by mainly local lads. I feel this would help bind fan allegiance and civic pride, in a way that soccer could lose over time

RL is not helping itself though in this country. We know RU is our main threat due mainly nowadays from its indirect from higher echelon society who have all the media power, however we are doing our utmost to lose our opwn power bases. The sport is also in danger of becoming to hard to play with less shocks/close scorelines

The current lack of P&R is alientating everyone outside the top flight, and we'll lose fans in all towns bar those in SL

Also the expansion teams have been disasters, due mainly to poor strategy form those clubs (i.e. moving around, chooing poor locations) and lack of RL support. Quins RL is the worst offender and the RFL needs to step in and get them out of Twatters FFS

RL needs to work its way down the country. In many ways Wrexham is a good move as it is outside the heartlands but by not much so away fans will swell gates

Also I feel that more needs to be done in schools. There are no franchise points for work done in schools. RL is still a stranger in inner city Manchester, Bradford, liverpool etc

I would like RL to provide an alternative stratgey to football/RU and become a game again which is played by mainly local lads. I feel this would help bind fan allegiance and civic pride, in a way that soccer could lose over time

The lack of relegation and promotion is a problem but so was the previous system. A return to promotion and relegation is not a simple answer. Even when we had it there were numerous problems and crowds in the lower divisions had been dropping. Most clubs already didn't see Super League as achievable because they were too small.

The game is hard to play and the RFL should run different levels where there are easier versions such as 5m and tag.

Working it's way down the country is an ideal but not realistic, you need places to actually want Rugby League and you can only move where they do.

A lot of work has been done in schools and I read in a teacher paper last year that RL was actually the fastest growing sport in schools. It is now played in 33% of secondary schools in comparison to 66% for Union, which I didn't think was that bad considering our geographical isolation.

I'm not quite as pessimistic. The game is big down in Australia and I can see them making real gains over the next ten years, Perth look a certainty for 2013 and a second NZ team or even a PNG team could follow a few years after. Yes the game could sink into obscurity in Britain, but I'm fairly optimistic that we'll win the war of the codes down under. So in a sense, even in the most pessimistic scenario in Europe, the game would be strong on another continent.

and each of those teams is given massive help when they are given the chance.. somethine we need to learn over here that for the good of the game when we do expand to do it 100% and not just tick the spot on the map and sit hoping to god it will work..

and each of those teams is given massive help when they are given the chance.. somethine we need to learn over here that for the good of the game when we do expand to do it 100% and not just tick the spot on the map and sit hoping to god it will work..

The difference is that they have the money to do it. Their clubs are also entering a high profile competition that gets regular national media coverage.

That said Melbourne aren't a roaring success and without their Grand Final wins, they would have also likely been relocated.

The difference is that they have the money to do it. Their clubs are also entering a high profile competition that gets regular national media coverage.

That said Melbourne aren't a roaring success and without their Grand Final wins, they would have also likely been relocated.

but they did get the grand final wins (ok by cheating but still) and look at the reaction to the cheating by the fans.. they seem to have a good base there and the juniors are starting to really get to grips with it.. ARU get a super 15 team in there beucase of it as well.. before RL gets the grip of AFL land.. (grand final very early 1999?? helped this out as well and was done without the cheating that the last few have come with)

but chicken and egg.. do you throw money at the exapansion and get the national coverage or do you sit back anf hope it comes so that you have the money to expand.. well the latter doesnt work so how about the former?

its relative money, get quins etc competative on the field and your away.. but you have to do it early,.. there is now apathy in london becuase of continued faliure and movement..

(i dont agree they would be relocated i think australia would gie it some time)

but they did get the grand final wins (ok by cheating but still) and look at the reaction to the cheating by the fans.. they seem to have a good base there and the juniors are starting to really get to grips with it.. ARU get a super 15 team in there beucase of it as well.. before RL gets the grip of AFL land.. (grand final very early 1999?? helped this out as well and was done without the cheating that the last few have come with)

but chicken and egg.. do you throw money at the exapansion and get the national coverage or do you sit back anf hope it comes so that you have the money to expand.. well the latter doesnt work so how about the former?

its relative money, get quins etc competative on the field and your away.. but you have to do it early,.. there is now apathy in london becuase of continued faliure and movement..

(i dont agree they would be relocated i think australia would gie it some time)

The whole point is that we aren't going to get national coverage. Whatever we do, the national media will ignore us.

but they did get the grand final wins (ok by cheating but still) and look at the reaction to the cheating by the fans.. they seem to have a good base there and the juniors are starting to really get to grips with it.. ARU get a super 15 team in there beucase of it as well.. before RL gets the grip of AFL land.. (grand final very early 1999?? helped this out as well and was done without the cheating that the last few have come with)

but chicken and egg.. do you throw money at the exapansion and get the national coverage or do you sit back anf hope it comes so that you have the money to expand.. well the latter doesnt work so how about the former?

its relative money, get quins etc competative on the field and your away.. but you have to do it early,.. there is now apathy in london becuase of continued faliure and movement..

(i dont agree they would be relocated i think australia would gie it some time)

In 2004 prominent people were talking about relocating them because crowds had dropped massively. You can't budget for Grand Final success. Heck if Quins had appeared in 4 Grand Finals in a row then I reckon they'd have a pretty decent set up down there.

In 2004 prominent people were talking about relocating them because crowds had dropped massively. You can't budget for Grand Final success. Heck if Quins had appeared in 4 Grand Finals in a row then I reckon they'd have a pretty decent set up down there.

many people can talk about many things it doesnt mean it is going to happen.. god RL as a sport proves that the amount of times they talk about things and ###### all ever seems to happen..

yes thats the thing success can really achieve things.. and thats why weight needs to be thrown behind these things not just talk from up onhigh and ticking the map and forgetting about it

The whole point is that we aren't going to get national coverage. Whatever we do, the national media will ignore us.

sorry thats just not true.. "whatever we do, the national media will ignore us"... we do plenty of things the national media do not ignore.. not all positive but with success etc then they may become interested again.. we CAN get national coverage becuase nothing is set in stone...

an expanding game over the last 10 years can open up corridors into companies and into news media with the universities etc.. this is still a bit off as it takes time for people to move up a ladder but you cannot write off the whole future of the universe becuase of what is happening today..

they CAN be brought back on side if we get things right.. whether they WILL or not is down to getting these thigns right but to sit back and say "it wont happen no matter what" is (sorry to say) daft.

The lack of relegation and promotion is a problem but so was the previous system. A return to promotion and relegation is not a simple answer. Even when we had it there were numerous problems and crowds in the lower divisions had been dropping. Most clubs already didn't see Super League as achievable because they were too small.

The game is hard to play and the RFL should run different levels where there are easier versions such as 5m and tag.

Working it's way down the country is an ideal but not realistic, you need places to actually want Rugby League and you can only move where they do.

A lot of work has been done in schools and I read in a teacher paper last year that RL was actually the fastest growing sport in schools. It is now played in 33% of secondary schools in comparison to 66% for Union, which I didn't think was that bad considering our geographical isolation.

There is no point ring fencing 14 top teams for 3-years whilst alienating the other 20-odd clubs. Especially when many of the clubs below SL have equal or better facilities than SL clubs. It isn't right

Annual promotion needs to be awarded preferably to 2 clubs. Perhaps the promoted clubs could be ring fenced for 1 year. Who gives a ###### if potentially the 12th club goes down? At least we'd have recycling and keep everyone happy (bar the poor little SL clubs going down)

the only way RL will get any kind of national coverage in the media will be if we force them to.. if the game becomes so popular that they will have to relent. and for that to happen we need major investment in the sport from a number of different sponsors. which in all honesty isnt going to happen anytime soon..

the RFL will have to make some very big decisions if they seriously want to get RL back on an upward spiral, although i honestly think we are on that upward spiral already, its just going to be a slower journey than some of us would like.

One way would be to switch from sky to a competent and willing terrestrial TV broadcaster. which i believe in a short space of time would go some way to forcing the nations media to take notice. but for that to happen we'd have to not re-new with sky and have in place a suitable replacement. no terrestrial TV company is gonna give the RFL 60mil+ like sky have/do.. so we'd need to generate a greater pool of sponsorships to supplement any losses a new TV deal might create, which would be difficult in these times of financial uncertainty.. but not impossible.

another way would be to insist on certain things when the next TV contract comes round, things like:

RL to form part of the sky sports advertising campaigns, nationally. (Print and TV)

etc, etc

today while watching SSN i saw a piece about an indian business man who is willing to invest over 100m into blackburn rovers (100m for transfers apparently, and in cash, with the promise of more to come!). There are people out with obscene amounts of money, wanting to invest in sport. RL should be trying to identify these people and attempting to get them on board. the game of RL is an absolutely fantastic sport, as we all know.. and would be an attractive proposition for any sport loving business man, and also a sport that could be invested in at quite a low level of investment in comparison to a sport like football.. and i imagine the potential returns, upon greater exposure could be huge. it stands to reason, with greater exposure comes greater awareness, with that awareness comes a greater appreciation of the sport, with that appreciation new fans will be created, which will increase the popularity of the sport, which could then produce avenues to expand in the exposure to other countries (for instance), through more TV deals.

RL really doesnt do much for its sponsors, not really.. to get more out of our sponsorships we need to do more for our sponsors.. as has been said on these boards time and again our elite competition is known as Superleague to pretty much everyone, not the Engage Superleague. the RFL should be insisting that the competition is constantly refered to as the 'Engage Superleague', in all forms of written and visual media. Gilette is probably the biggest brand we're associated with but you'd only really know that if you happened to watch an England game or looked at the list of sponsors of the RFL website.. a major international brand has an association with us! lets use that association where we can.. the only thinkg i can think of that RL has been involved with, with Gilette is from the first Tri-nations DVD, where leeds players are signing autographs at a bloody supermarket! we appear to have picked up a couple more major brands in recent times in Valvoline and Dewalt, two big recognisable brands, we should be going out of our way to include these brands in RL as much as possible, not just a logo on a website!.. with good sponsor relations comes an opporunity to increase our own identity through these sponsors.. raise awareness of our game and increase revenue.

im going slightly off tack now.. so will end this little post!.. apologies if i've waffled.. am seriously ill today and whacked off my #### on night nurse!

I find it staggering that everyone in this thread is talking about the global nature of the modern sporting landscape and yet the solution, according to some, is to retreat into the M62 corridor. Unbelievable.

"Just as we had been Cathars, we were treizistes, men apart."
Jean Roque, Calendrier-revue du Racing-Club Albigeois, 1958-1959

the only way RL will get any kind of national coverage in the media will be if we force them to.. if the game becomes so popular that they will have to relent. and for that to happen we need major investment in the sport from a number of different sponsors

As far as I am aware the top 30 club rugby attendances of all time wouldn't include a single union match - yet which sport is claiming with a lot of success in the media that various of its games have broken the club rugby attendance record?

As far as I am aware the top 30 club rugby attendances of all time wouldn't include a single union match - yet which sport is claiming with a lot of success in the media that various of its games have broken the club rugby attendance record?

more than anything that just shows how good they are at this.. they used 2003 and ran with it.. we dont even get positive stories out there to be seen, where is the media bod at league headquarters shouting that this isnt true, where are they when we have records broken, where are we with the millenium magic weekends the media is poor..

union have the jump on us becuase they are prepared to bend the truth knowing no one will call them on it.. that is what the media person at league HQ should do.. but they are caught between a rock and a hard place becuase if they do crow about it they will get called chippy and "everyone knows what we mean" which to be honest to a huge swathe of hte population Rugby is Union.. rightly or wrongly..

wherever we are now it doenst mean we are here to stay we can change it with the expansion and with increased success of the expansion teams.. if crusaders do well it will galvanise a welsh interest that has been latent for example

I find it staggering that everyone in this thread is talking about the global nature of the modern sporting landscape and yet the solution, according to some, is to retreat into the M62 corridor. Unbelievable.

The whole point is that we aren't going to get national coverage. Whatever we do, the national media will ignore us.

They wouldn't ignore a successful national team. But we don't have one of those. All efforts should be channelled into getting one, if RL really, really wants to crack the national media. Having that successful national team playing in the biggest, most iconic venues in front of big crowds would help too.

Tinkering about with the club game will not increase national media coverage.

(For the sake of balance, and sorry to disappoint the conspiracy theorists, but I believe The Times have also ditched their staff rugby union reporter too, so it isn't just RL on the backfoot here).

more than anything that just shows how good they are at this.. they used 2003 and ran with it.. we dont even get positive stories out there to be seen, where is the media bod at league headquarters shouting that this isnt true, where are they when we have records broken, where are we with the millenium magic weekends the media is poor..

They wouldn't ignore a successful national team. But we don't have one of those. All efforts should be channelled into getting one, if RL really, really wants to crack the national media. Having that successful national team playing in the biggest, most iconic venues in front of big crowds would help too.

Tinkering about with the club game will not increase national media coverage.

(For the sake of balance, and sorry to disappoint the conspiracy theorists, but I believe The Times have also ditched their staff rugby union reporter too, so it isn't just RL on the backfoot here).

I think this is about more than the ditching of one person, it's about the profile of the whole game and it is diminishing.

A successful national team is part of the answer but even that is only going to do so much because there is only really 1 maybe 2 international teams that it is worthwhile beating. People would soon see through this.